


Batting and Teasing

by BlueMoonVonIdaho



Series: Kitty Tendencies [1]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Nino you sneaky piece of work, Why do I love tormenting Adrien, cat behavior, now that I've started I can't stop
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-18
Updated: 2016-05-18
Packaged: 2018-06-09 05:02:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,834
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6891268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlueMoonVonIdaho/pseuds/BlueMoonVonIdaho
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nino discovers that balls of crumpled paper make good cat toys. Adrien is not amused.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Batting and Teasing

Nino and Adrien sat at a table that was tucked away into a secluded corner of the local library. They were waiting for Alya and Marinette, with whom they had formed a weekly study group. Technically, the group wasn’t supposed to convene for another twenty minutes, but the girls were almost always early anyway, and Nino had asked Adrien to give him an extra hand with physics. The result was a table covered in textbooks and notes, as well as two very frustrated teenage boys.

After Adrien’s fifth attempt to explain the same concept, Nino groaned and crumpled up a sheet of paper that was covered in numbers and formulas and meaningless scribbles. “I don’t know how you do it, dude.”

“Sorry,” Adrien said apologetically. “I guess I’m just not explaining this very well.”

Nino waved that statement off. “Dude, don’t be ridiculous. It’s not your fault. You just get this stuff like _that_ —” he emphasized the word with a snap of his fingers “—but for me, it’s in one ear and out the other.”

The blond hesitated. “Do you want to work on something else and come back to this later?”

“ _Please._ ” The DJ leaned forward and plopped his forehead down on the table, a pained look on his face. He toyed with the balled-up piece of scratch paper he was holding, tossing it back and forth in his hands. “Seriously, I am willing to talk about anything right now as long as it’s not gravitational attraction.”

Adrien flipped through his notes, looking for an easier topic. “All right, then.”

Something in the back of his mind pointed out that there was now a very battable ball of paper on the other side of the table. He ignored it. He’d gotten more or less used to these “cat” urges, and he could keep them under control without too much effort. Usually.

§§§

“…so the centripetal force on the kite is— _will you please knock that off?_ ”

Nino sat up and looked at Adrien, whose eyes were fixed on the crumpled paper his friend had been absentmindedly tossing from hand to hand. The urge to start batting it had not subsided, and the teen was dangerously close to losing his composure. Usually he could control himself, but for whatever reason, he couldn’t get rid of the idea of smacking that impudent wad of paper around until it learned not to mock him like that.

Realizing that his outburst might have been a tad harsher than necessary, Adrien backed down a bit. “Sorry, Nino, but it’s driving me crazy.”

“You mean this?” Nino glanced around to make sure no one was nearby before tossing the wadded-up paper from one hand to the other. Adrien scowled at him. The DJ grinned and flicked the paper back to its starting place. Adrien’s hand twitched, and only a monumental amount of self-control kept him from swiping at it.

“Yes,” he replied through gritted teeth. “That.”

Sneaky looks were more Chat Noir’s forte than Nino’s, but the DJ was definitely pulling it off as he leaned back in his chair. “So.” He tossed the paper again. Adrien’s eyes immediately locked onto it, and he actually had to grab his wrist and pin it against the table with his opposite hand to keep himself from lunging for it.

“You’re saying—” another toss “—that this—” and another “—bothers you?” Nino kept tossing while he waited for an answer. Back and forth. Back. Forth. Back. Forth.

Adrien’s only response was a frustrated growl. His entire being was fixated on the wad of paper in Nino’s hands, his eyes following it relentlessly.

Back. Forth. Back. Forth.

By now, Adrien was shaking from the effort of staying in his seat. He was still holding his hand down, and his nails were digging into the wooden surface beneath them. He was lucky he wasn’t leaving scratches on the tabletop.

Back. Forth. Back. Forth.

A low whining noise resounded in his ears. He was too focused on not lunging across the table to realize that it was coming from him.

Back. Foth. Back.

Nino stopped. He caught the ball of paper in one hand and slid lower in his chair, giving no outward sign that he’d ever even thought of taunting his friend with a crumpled-up piece of paper in the first place. Adrien wasn’t going to forgive him easily for what he had planned next, but if it worked, it would be worth it. Besides, opportunities like this didn’t come along very often. If their positions were reversed, Nino was sure the blond would do the exact same thing.

Adrien tensed, waiting for some trick, but none seemed forthcoming. Nino was sitting there with his eyes closed and the paper ball that had proven so distracting dangling loosely in his fingers. Now that it wasn’t moving anymore, it wasn’t nearly as tempting, which gave Adrien enough of a reprieve to compose himself. Slowly, the blond relaxed and sank back into his seat.

At which point Nino threw the wadded-up paper across the table and over Adrien’s shoulder.

In the time it took the projectile to cross the space between them, Adrien’s common sense fought a war with his cat instincts. Instinct told him to bat the small, flying, _tantalizing_ object out of the air and show it no mercy. Common sense told him to sit still and let it go by.

Instinct won.

Adrien shot to his feet, upending his chair as he lunged backwards in pursuit of the paper ball. One of his hands caught it, batting it into the air a moment before he landed on the floor. He lay there, arms churning in midair, swatting the crumpled wad upward every time it came back down. His knees were pulled up to his chest, and Nino could see his feet mirroring the circular motions of his hands. The DJ clamped both hands over his mouth. He was torn between the desire to laugh until he cried and a hunger to keep watching Adrien while his fit of cat-ness lasted. He was going to pay for this later, but it was _so_ worth it.

The paper glanced off of one of Adrien’s knuckles and bounced to the side. Faster than Nino would have believed possible, his friend rolled over onto his hands and knees. Adrien crouched lower, hips swaying back and forth. A growl rumbled in his throat before he pounced, scooping the ball back into the air and resuming his batting. The occasional growls and mews he let out as he continued to show the offending paper who was boss only made the situation more comical.

Several more minutes passed in this manner before the blond seemed to be satisfied that the crumpled wad of paper had learned its lesson. He let it bounce off of his chest and roll to the side, aiming one last, lazy swipe of a hand at it before letting it rest in peace. The paper came to a stop a few feet away from the teen and stayed there. Nino stifled his laughter for just a little longer, waiting for the moment he knew was coming.

Adrien let out a sound of contentment and closed his eyes. Then he realized exactly what he’d been doing for the past few minutes and bolted upright with a wide-eyed look on his face. His eyes rested first on the offending ball of paper, then moved to the overturned chair, and finally to Nino, who was all too obviously holding back laughter.

“Why did you do that?” he demanded in a hurt voice.

Nino burst out laughing. He kept both hands over his mouth to muffle the sound (they were in a library, after all), but it still carried clearly through the shelves. It was a wonder he didn’t fall out of his chair, he was laughing so hard.

Despite the complete and utter humiliation he was feeling in that moment, Adrien found that couldn’t begrudge his friend this moment of humor, even if it was at his expense. He knew keeping the secret of his identity and putting up with Adrien being, well, a cat was stressful for Nino. The DJ deserved all the laughter he could get in his life. Still, his feline antics weren’t quite _that_ funny, were they?

A few tears trickled down Nino’s cheeks as his laughter continued unabated, despite the pout on his friend’s face. He kept laughing until he couldn’t breathe properly and his guffaws died down to choking wheezes. Having a best friend with a tendency to suddenly and randomly act like a cat was weird, and having to cover for said best friend so that he didn’t get caught acting like a cat around anyone else was even more weird, but moments like this made it all worth it.

By the time the DJ could breathe properly, Adrien had more or less come to terms with his latest feline outburst. That didn’t mean he was happy with his friend for provoking it, so he sat in his spot on the floor with his arms folded and a scowl on his face.

“Dude,” Nino choked. “You are such a cat.”

Adrien stuck his nose in the air and pouted, trying to retain what little dignity he had left. He also hoped it would save him from having to think of some kind of comeback, because there was no good comeback after a display like that. He was grateful that Plagg was in his bag and not his pocket, because the kwami had no doubt been watching the entire scenario play out and was definitely having a field day.

The sight reminded Nino of a cat after it did something it clearly hadn’t meant to do, which almost set him off again.

“It wasn’t _that_ funny!” Adrien hissed. He righted his chair and sat down, his face pink from embarrassment.

“Yes, it was!” Nino snickered. “You should have seen yourself!”

“And what if someone _else_ had seen me?” Adrien countered. “We’re not exactly in a private place, you know.”

Nino waved a hand. “Dude, this place is a dead zone right now. And you know I would have stopped you if somebody was coming.” Seeing that Adrien didn’t look convinced, he added, “Trust me, dude, someday you’re gonna look back on this and laugh.”

Adrien groaned and buried his face in his hands. Fortunately, he was saved from further embarrassment by the arrival of Alya, who was chattering about the latest updates to the Ladyblog, and Marinette, who was blushing and stuttering as usual.

“All right, gang, ready to face the most horrifying punishment known to mankind?” Alya asked cheerfully. To underscore her point, she tossed a crumpled-up ball of paper (most likely what passed for her notes) into the air and let it come down before she caught it again.

Neither girl understood why Nino suddenly started laughing, nor why Adrien groaned, flushed, and let his forehead hit the table with a muted _thunk_.

**Author's Note:**

> I guess this is a series now. This is probably going somewhere, eventually.  
> Am I kicked out of the fandom yet?


End file.
